Eruv

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Call the Eruv hotline on Friday afternoon to check the status: (201) 568-3116.

Rav ha-Machshir: Rabbi Chaim (Howard) Jachter

The Early History of the Englewood Eruv

The first attempt to establish an Eruv in Englewood was initiated by Rabbi Isaac Swift O"BM in the early 1970s. This attempt was foiled by the inability to reconcile Halachic requirements with the physical constraints imposed by the utility companies. The efforts resumed in 1978, under the joint leadership of Rabbi Swift and Rabbi Moshe Chaim Sosevsky, rabbi of Congregation Shomrei Emunah. They were able to persuade the utility companies to accept larger lechis that were acceptable to the Eruv's posek, Rav Shimon Eider of Lakewood. The rabbis, working with a committee of volunteers that included Milton Houpt, Alan Lubarr, Allen Oppenheim, and Charles Popper, among others, were able to construct an Eruv around the core Englewood community. That area was bounded by Grand Avenue, Palisade Avenue, Woodland Street and Van Nostrand Avenue. The Eruv became operational during Succot, 1979. Weekly checking and maintenance was provided by a group of volunteers, coordinated by Charles Popper.

The Eruv had an immediate impact on the community, and calls for expansion poured in. We were also able, at that time, to negotiate additional flexibility from the utility companies, who permitted the use of a new type of plastic lechi that extended all the way up the poles to a point immediately below the wires, thereby greatly enhancing the Halachic reliability. The committee proceeded with two major expansions - the "Cumberland" area south of Van Nostrand and East Hill, between Palisade and Booth. The design and construction, as well as the subsequent weekly checking and maintenance, continued to be performed by Charles and an expanded crew of volunteers.